Weekend went pretty well, if very tiring. Marine Corps training took up the whole weekend, but it went well. Didn't take any pictures out in the field which I've been wanting to do. but one of the higher ups who goes out there takes a bunch. I'll try to get some and put them up.
ok...now it's about 9:30pm. home from work and stuffed from dinner. made a huge bowl of chili and rice with fresh tomoato and peppers and such. was meant to be two meals....but I was hungry!
ok. found some photos from the weekend. We got out to Ft. Hood late Friday night and basically just lay down on the ground to sleep, which is what we normally do. The weather was nice enough that I was able to just sleep on the little foam rubber mat that we take with us to keep us from laying on the ground. Having that insulating mat really does make a difference, keeping the ground from just sucking the body heat out of you.
next day we stepped off on a hump...which is a hike...typically a long one where you carry a heavy load. They had figured to take our 45-50lbs. of gear and have us go about 5 miles in about an hour and a half. not a murderous pace by any means.
problem is the leadership...as often happens...gets a bit...shall we say...turned about? We found ourselves making a huge loop back to the halfway point and ended up doubling back on our route for more than 2 miles...in the end we did about 8+ miles of hiking in about three hours.
It was a good workout, but not one that everyone was ready for, myself included. Lots of blisters to go around. I was wearing new boots, which is usually a recipe for blisters galore, but I managed to make it thru with just a lot of sore muscles in my legs and shoulders. The new packs we have do a good job of distributing the weight...but even still.
After we were back from the hike we worked on some basic urban combat courses. I taught the room clearing portion. Basically how to get into a room or building and clear it of bad guys without falling over your own feet or getting in the way of the rest of your team.
we did all of that thru the night and even tried working with our night vision equipment. It's amazing how well you can see at night with that stuff, but the older ones...which is mostly what we have (AN/PVS 7B for those who know about that stuff) provide about zero depth perception...so navigating through doors and windows and going up and down stairs is a real blast.
the last morning...waklng up,. packing up...cleaning up the range and ready to come home.
all in all a good weekend. lots more Marine Corps stuff coming up in the next months. should be interesting.
now back to regular workaday. could really use a day off, but I'll manage.
